Assuming we want to evaluate the thermal comfort conditions for occupants in a building, is there a way in Honeybee to take into account, in the comfort evaluation, the radiation entering the building through glazed facades and incident on an occupant?
In summary, is it possible to account for the fact that a person next to a glazed facade will be exposed to incident radiation?
I assume for the moment the fact that the mean radiant temperature extracted from the results is only taking into account the effect of solar radiation absorbed by the surfaces (also glazing) of the building.
Although, I would like to understand what is the additional effect of direct solar radiation on building occupants.
I am not sure whether there is already a discussion answering specifically to this question. In case there is, could you please share the link to it?
All studies that you run using the Honeybee microclimate maps will automatically account for solar radiation falling directly on occupants and the subsequent increase in occupant MRT as a result. The microclimate maps are using the SolarCal model, which was just officially accepted into the ASHRAE-55 Thermal Comfort Standard and is described in detail here:
I should note that the microclimate maps make a few assumptions about the occupant for the solarCal model (for example, the occupant is always seated and is always facing towards the south). If you want to drill down into details of the solarcal model, you can use the Ladybug_Solar Adjusted Temperature component as seen in this file:
I have just realised that my answer got cut after the first sentence.
I will look at the examples you mentioned.
In regards to the Solar Adjusted Temperature component, I guess it is appropriate to use it both for external and internal comfort evaluations given the paper used as a reference in the description of the component and that you also mentioned? Is it a matter of ‘just’ using the proper inputs depending on whether we are interested in external or internal comfort evaluation?
Yes, the Solar Adjusted Temperature component can be used both indoors and outdoors (as can the microclimate maps). For the indoors, make sure that your baseTemperature is an MRT value and set baseDryBulbOrMRT to False. You should not have to plug in an values for horizInfraredRad in this case.
Thank you for all this incredibly useful research and information!
We’re trying to integrate this into a model currently, investing the impact of solar radiation on occupants in a controlled environment, considering various glazing performance options.
At this preliminary stage, we want to make some standard assumptions about the internal air temperature to bypass the EnergyPlus analysis, and look at the relative change in adjustedMRT from solar exposure.
Just wondering what component accounts for the glazing performance (solar and visible light transmittance)? Does this have to be integrated into the honeybee material components (then E+) or does the indoorViewFactor or Ladybug_Solar Adjusted Temperature account for it?
Additionally, do you have any examples of integrating the Ladybug_Solar Adjusted Temperature component with the Microclimate map? If this is even possible.
I would recommend using the Thermal Mapping recipes of the latest LBT 1.4 plugin. They will use all of the energy properties of a honeybee model to compute indoor MRT and, notably, these LBT recipes will account for shortwave solar reflections (unlike any of the Legacy workflows).
